


The Mermaid

by Sol_Invictus



Series: The Mermaid [1]
Category: The Terror (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, Happy AU, M/M, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, Supernatural Elements, accidental adoption of supernatural arctic creatures, mermaid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2020-03-17 11:44:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18964564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sol_Invictus/pseuds/Sol_Invictus
Summary: At first Edward thought it was a girl. [...] The shrill it emitted drove that explanation out of Little’s mind.Or: Little and Jopson accidentally adopt a mermaid.





	The Mermaid

**Author's Note:**

  * For [onstraysod](https://archiveofourown.org/users/onstraysod/gifts).



> Basically this fic takes place at the end of their first winter in the Arctic, but instead of freezing to death and dying of the scurvy while a giant supernatural bear is chasing them, actual spring comes while help is on the way. Please forgive my flagrant lack of naval knowledge and mischaracterization of Joplittle for the sake of mermaids and fluff.

At first Edward thought it was a girl. The possibility immediately looked absurd to him. They were in the middle of nowhere (names were but vague and fleeting things in this cold barren land where everything looked like the next). A hidden passenger was out of question too. Edward knew the ship like the back of his hand. There was no way someone could have stayed hidden for so long.

As he made his way toward the dark vision, perched on the railing of the frozen deck as the sun slowly began to rise, he found the figure was not actually human at all. It was a _fish._ Or at least it looked partially like one. The humanoid had a scaled skin that caught the bleak light, shining like a diamond under the sun. Ears were fins looking like bat wings; the mouth a range of cutting teeth; the eyes were globulous, shiny black pearls; the hands were palmed with claws; the feet were long and also palmed. What cascaded upon its shoulders looked like hair. It had breasts and the face looked human enough you could think one of the boys had gone mad and decided to disguise himself.

The shrill it emitted drove that explanation out of Little’s mind.

Terror caught up with him. Was the creature related to the one hunting them? Was it going to jump on him and tear out his throat? The creature let out some kind of gurgle and flailed. Edward was frozen by fear.

Then, with no more ceremony, it turned round and jumped. Little stayed there, struck dumb for what felt an eternity before he scrambled to the railing and tried to see if the creature was somewhere, but it had disappeared.

*

“Edward?” whispered gently Jopson against his shoulder.

Little hummed questioningly, pulled out from his reverie. He tightened his embrace around his lover, despite the fact his bed was so narrow they barely fit already.

“Are you alright?”

“Thomas…do you think I’m going mad?”

His lover blinked, unsettled by the question. True, Edward had seemed preoccupied and distracted this week, but he had never imagined he was entertaining such dark thoughts.

“No, of course not! What on Earth would make you think that, my love?”

Little swallowed thickly. He had not told a living soul about his strange encounter a week ago. Who would believe such a thing?

“Edward, what’s going on?”

“I- I saw…. I saw something last week. When I was up on the deck to watch the sunrise. There- There was something.”

Jopson cradled his face gently, petting him soothingly.

“You’re exhausted. Everyone is. It’s normal. Sometimes you…imagine things when you lack too much sleep. It’s nothing, Edward. You are _not_ going mad, I promise.”

Little wanted so much to tell him it looked _real_ , so real he smelled saltwater and fish when he approached the vision, that the scales blinded him with the sunlight reflected on them, that the fins were dripping water on the wooden deck. It looked so real he didn’t know if he had been dreaming or not. But instead he simply nodded, not trusting himself to speak. Thomas smiled tenderly.

“How about we go watch the sunrise together since we’re already up?”

Edward felt dread creep inside him but pushed it aside. His lover was right. This man-fish was nothing more than a product of his sleep deprived mind. When he’d get on the deck with his man, nothing would wait for them but the sun.

And indeed he was right.

*

Little forgot about the incident altogether as the days passed. Jopson and he had taken up the habit of watching the sunrise together on deck whenever they could. Edward felt a little silly to be so happy each time he got to see the sun with Thomas. They weren’t lovesick teenagers anymore. His lover always told him it was good to be romantic. It was better than being devoured by the icy melancholy surrounding them.

“Didn’t know you were such a poet,” he had teased him.

“Maybe I have finally found my true calling,” had shrugged Thomas, eyes full of mischief.

Edward, throwing caution to the wind, had kissed him and dragged him downstairs for more kisses. This morning, though, the two men were less inclined to banter. McDonald and Goodsir had warned the captain many cans were spoiled, although they couldn’t tell the extend of the catastrophe. It could mean they would not have enough food to survive another cold summer, much less another winter. That was why Edward had insisted they see the sunrise together this morning. To lift their spirits. To push back the fear. Thomas put his head on his shoulder and it worked.

A thud behind them made the steward turn.

The scream got caught in his throat. A scaled creature was staggering toward them with a fish in its mouth. Instinct kicking in, Edward gripped his lover and pulled him behind him, facing the monster with nothing but his fists. It stopped ten meters away from them and blinked, head cocked as if considering them. It emitted a high-pitched gurgle and let the fish fall from its mouth. The two men did not dare move. The creature let out another sound as it nodded to the fish. When it started advancing toward them again, Little growled menacingly. To his surprise, the creature cowered with a whine.

“Wait,” suddenly whispered Jopson, “I think- I think she’s trying to communicate.”

“What?!”

“I think she wants to give us that fish.”

“Are you serious-“

But Thomas was already approaching slowly the creature, hands up in a peaceful gesture. The monster blinked, staring at him as he carefully crouched down to make eye contact.

“Hey there, pretty girl,” he cooed gently.

It gave a questioning noise in response.

“Is this for us?” continued Jopson in the same tone as he pointed the fish before him. “You want to give it to us?”

The creature emitted a gurgle as he took the fish. Little watched in horror as it staggered up to him, bringing its mouth full of sharp teeth near Thomas’s face…

…before letting out a tongue looking like a slimy tentacle to lick his cheek.

Jopson chuckled shakily, relief flooding him. The creature seemed pleased and licked his cheek again.

“Good girl,” he praised before petting its head.

To Edward’s astonishment, it leaned into his lover’s hand with a pleased noise, not unlike a dog. Jopson turned to him with a dimpled smile.

“See? She just wants to communicate.”

“ _She?”_ was all Little could utter.

Was he dreaming? Was he actually in his bed struck down by fever?  A monster popped out of nowhere three minutes ago and _Thomas was petting it._

“Looks like it,” his lover shrugged.

The creature looked up at the sun rising and squinted with a noise. With no more ceremony, it staggered with haste to the railing of the deck and hopped out. Little scrambled to the side of the deck just in time to see it disappear behind a small hill of ice. The two men stayed silent for a few minutes.

“I didn’t know there were mermaids in the Arctic,” said Jopson.

Edward turned to look at his lover before they burst into a hysterical fit of laughter.

*

After several heated discussions, it was decided they would wait for another apparition of the creature to discover its intentions. It took nearly a week to see it on the deck again at sunrise. It had brought a fish again but looked much more confident. It went immediately to Jopson and let him take the present from its mouth.

“What a good girl you are!” he cooed as he scratched it behind its fins.

It gave a pleased sound before settling its black orbs on Little.

“C’mon, Edward.”

“ _No.”_

Thomas put on his don’t-be-childish look and his lover gave in. Edward hesitantly stretched out his hand to the creature. It licked his palm. He tried his best to hide his scowl of disgust.

“She likes you.”

“Or it’s tasting me.”

“Don’t be silly. I wonder how she got here, though. Do you think she’s lost?”

Little shrugged. His eyes fell on the dead fish.

“How did it find food? None of our hunting expeditions brought back anything.”

“You like fish? You like fish, baby girl?”

“Baby talk? Thomas, for the love of God, this thing can kill you!”

“Well, I’m still alive, am I not?” and he smiled playfully.

It suddenly dawned on Little what was happening.

“No.”

“What?”

“We are _not_ keeping this thing.”

When his lover furrowed his brows in displeasure, he knew he got it right.

“She’s bringing us food.”

“What if there are others? What if they attack us?”

“Now, Edward-“

“You don’t know anything about this abomination and you want us to stash it in the storeroom to keep company to the dog? Have you lost your mind?”

“This _abomination_ , as you say, is right now our best chance to survive until we get rescued!”

The creature had grown restless during their fight and Edward’s angry snarl drew a fearful whine from its mouth.

“No, no, it’s alright baby girl. It’s alright,” soothed Jopson.

It calmed down under his attentions, which brought a fond smile to his lips. His lover sighed with dismay.

“We can’t keep it on board,” let out Edward with the tone of a man who had admitted defeat.

Thomas grinned widely as he nodded, ready for compromise now that he had had his way.

“And we must tell the captain.”

“I know but… I’m not sure he believes us.”

Crozier had not been doing well these past weeks, staying too close to his glass of whiskey for Jopson’s comfort.

“Plus that little beauty must get a name!”

Sensing the conversation was again shifting on it, the creature gurgled.

“Oh, for the love of…”

“What, do you want to us to keep calling her the abomination?” asked dryly Thomas.

Exasperated and weary, Little shrugged.

“And what do you suggest?”

His lover studied the creature for a minute before proclaiming with solemnity:

“Nancy.”

“Nancy?” repeated Little, unimpressed.

“She’s got a Nancy kind of face,” he retorted confidently, as if enouncing a verified scientific fact.

Edward shrugged wearily while his lover petted the newly christened Nancy.

“Well, aren’t you a pretty girl?” the steward cooed, while the lieutenant still hoped that somehow they were not actually keeping a half-fish creature in the middle of the Arctic.

_What you wouldn’t do for love_ , he thought with resignation.


End file.
